Wanderings of a soprano, sometimes alto, choral singer turned mom

Last weekend we went away to Tagaytay for our quarterly family bonding. E and I agreed that we will have quarterly getaways with our little girl. This doesn’t need to be expensive out of the country getaways. It can be as simple as an overnight staycation or a short out of town trip. The end goal is to just spend extra time with Bunny.

We arrived at our quarterly getaway agreement after noticing how happy Bunny was during our trips. She smiles the whole day during our trips. We see a glimmer in her eye as she sees something new and different. An article we read shared that travelling with kids is a good teachable experience.

The Road To our Tagaytay Vacation

We hopped on a bus to start our trip to Tagaytay. E and I were so excited for this trip. See it had been awhile since our last staycation. Our last one was December 2016 when we celebrated our birth month at H20 Hotel.

I was thinking of rescheduling the trip to end-June because of the gloomy weather. Halfway through our bus ride it started raining. I honestly thought that we won’t be able to enjoy our trip. I even started thinking of activities we can do inside the room, short, and fun activities that Bunny can enjoy. I was glad to see that after 20 minutes or more the rain finally stopped.

We reached our drop off point an hour and a half after we left our starting point (SM Bacoor). There was a bit of traffic but it was manageable. We rode a tricycle to get to our hotel for the weekend.

Escala Staycation

We stayed at the newly opened Escala Hotel (more on this in my next post). Check in was a breeze! We were given our access card within 5 minutes of checking in. This didn’t stop Bunny from wandering in their lobby. She immediately pointed their infinity pool exclaiming “miming I found a pool” (swimming I found the pool). I had to talk to her and tell her that we will go swimming after we leave our things in our room.

Our room was spacious and more than what I expected. It had an amazing view and to Bunny’s liking, it was carpeted! She momentarily forgot about the pool. She started lying down on the floor before proceeding into jumping up and down on the bed – as if it was a trampoline! She would look to us and giggle out loud as if saying she’s having so much fun.

We allowed her to take a dip in the hotel’s infinity pool but only for a short bit of time. It was starting to get cold, even if it was just a little before four. I guess that’s to be expected because of the gloomy weather. We didn’t want to risk her catching a cold. We also wanted her to rest before we go out for dinner.

This turned out to be a good decision. Fog appeared and our little bunny exclaimed, “scary.” We had to wait for the fog to disappear before we headed out to dinner at Sky Ranch.

Dinner at Skyranch

We decided to have dinner at Mesa located in Skyranch. Skyranch was just a five to ten-minute walk from our hotel. I didn’t want to risk going to a far restaurant that time.

The rain made it hard for us to reach our destination easily. When we reached Mesa their staff quickly escorted us to our table.

We decided to just order two dishes: Crispy Kare Kare and Crispy Boneless Tilapia with Four Sauces. The cold weather made me crave for Kare Kare (a unique Filipino dish made with beef, vegetables, and creamy peanut-based sauce) and fish. Mesa did not disappoint!

The creamy peanut sauce complimented the crispy fried short ribs. My only comment was that there was a scarcity of peanut sauce! I wanted more! Bunny liked the Crispy Tilapia so much! She’s a picky eater and it was a rare treat to see her eat fish!

Skyranch Tour

The next day, after checking out, we went to Skyranch. Bunny smiled ear to ear exclaiming “laki playground” all the time (big playground). She wanted to try every ride but we just limited it to three. She wasn’t big enough yet to ride the other attractions. This seemed to be okay with her it was just crucial for her to ride the train (she has a thing for trains).

She was ecstatic to ride the train. She couldn’t help but giggle and squeal during our ride. Seeing her enjoy such simple pleasures in life made our day.

Going Home

After retrieving our luggage from Escala we told Bunny that we were going home. It was so funny because she started her way towards the elevator. Our funny bunny pressed the down button, giggling to herself. She thought that home meant our room in Escala.

I had to slowly explain to her that we were going home to her grandpa and grandma. At first, she seemed okay. She just looked a bit sad. She wasn’t crying or screaming. When we were near the bus stop she suddenly said “come back.” E and I looked at each other shocked to hear her say comeback. I guess she really had fun during our weekend getaway.

Looking back, she was always smiling and giggling. She liked lying down on the carpet and hiding from us. The room was her playground and her dad and me her playmates. I did tell her that we will try to go back but next time perhaps longer. We will surely give everything that we can to make her squealing happily again.

If I learned anything from this trip it’s that kids appreciate time away with their parents. They see the world from a different perspective while we introduce them to a new portion of our world. I highly recommend that parents go on vacations with their kids at least once to twice a year. Again, it need not be expensive. What’s important is that you spend time with them.

Related

Post navigation

Navigation

7 comments

I was just talking to my kids about how experiences is what they will remember when they’re older. That it’s worth spending even just a little bit to have happy and fun memories to look back on. It looks like you had a wonderful time.